Brookhaven Sweeps its Way into National Tournament
CeeCee Traylor highlight block
NJCAA DIII Volleyball Championship Tournament Bracket
FARMERS BRANCH, Texas – Dallas College Brookhaven's volleyball team is headed to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Championships.
The No. 4 nationally-ranked Bears beat Dallas College Cedar Valley, 25-19, 25-22, 25-22, in the Southwest District championship match Saturday at Brookhaven.
They are headed back to the national tournament for the second straight year. Brookhaven is seeded fourth, and will play the winner of fifth-seeded Minnesota State Community & Tech and 12th-seeded Monroe College Bronx Nov. 10 in the 6 p.m. quarterfinals. The national championship match is set for 4 p.m. Nov. 12. The NJCAA Network will air coverage from Minnesota.
"Hey, we're going to go win the national tournament," Bears middle blocker Cearria Traylor said after registering four blocks and four kills. "We're going to win. Stay focused, don't get … just too ahead of ourselves, and … just be mellow, be headstrong, do good and play our game."
At the district tournament, on their home floor albeit, the Bears were on top of their game, rolling to their third straight sweep and 11th this season. It was the second time in eight days Brookhaven (23-9) swept Cedar Valley (15-21).
"This game was kind of a little different from the last game," Traylor said. "The last game was head to head a lot. We pushed through though. We did our thing."
�� @BCBearsDen's CeeCee Traylor & Ariel Austin break down @brookhaven_dc VB's @NJCAAVolleyball DIII Southwest District Championship #NJCAA | #PostseasonVolleyball | #DallasCollegeProud | #BrookhavenBears pic.twitter.com/IAvVvKnri7
— Dallas College Athletics (@DallasCollAth) October 29, 2022
Brookhaven hit .161 in the championship match, putting away 44 balls against 22 errors in 137 chances. Cedar Valley had a .121 attack rate with 33 kills and 20 errors in 107 swings.
Bears hitter Ariel Austin had 12 kills, 12 digs and two blocks. Kelsey Trevino had nine kills, 14 digs, three aces and a block. Natalie Hawkins had seven kills, hit .400, and added a block. Camryn Dawley had 22 assists and nine digs, and Jordan Bruscato 16 assists, nine digs and two aces. Jadyn Ketner had 18 digs and two of the Bears' seven aces.
Cedar Valley's Isaline Jacquemyn had 16 kills, a block and an ace. Lauren Collier had 12 kills and nine digs. Emma Adebowale had 15 digs. Kalaya Pierce finished with 30 assists, 11 digs and five blocks. Angelys Rivera had six blocks, including a solo, and Laila had five blocks, two of which were solos, and four kills.
On Friday, Brookhaven got past Dallas College Mountain View, 25-14, 25-22, 25-12, in the semifinals. It was the second straight year Brookhaven ended Mountain View's season in the district tournament – last year on the Lions' home court in the championship match.
The Bears hit .176 in this year's match, while the Lions had an .011 attack rate. Brookhaven had 10 blocks and seven aces. Mountain View (13-21) had eight and three.
Hawkins had six kills, no errors, hit .400, and had two blocks. Asia Salter had eight kills, hit .412, and had three blocks. Trevino had seven kills, 12 digs and four blocks, including two solos. Madison Beasley had six kills and three blocks. Austin had five kills and 12 digs. Traylor added four kills and five blocks. Ketner had 18 digs and an ace. Dawley had 20 assists, five kills in as many attempts and nine digs. Bruscato had 17 assists and three aces.
Mountain View's Samantha Newman finished with seven kills and two blocks. Justyce Vanlandingham had 11 assists, nine digs and an ace. Marissa Narvaiz had 28 digs and an ace.
The Bears, whose 15-match win streak is the longest in program history since running off 20 in a row in 2010, found their rhythm at the tail end of tournament play, and carried it through to Dallas Athletic Conference action.
"When we were playing these harder (NJCAA) DI schools in the beginning of our season, once we came to conference, and we were winning these games like 25-14, 25-16, we were like, 'Oh, we can do this. We're totally capable of taking all these teams,'" Hawkins said.
Brookhaven volleyball's Natalie Hawkins breaks down the @njcaa DIII No. 4 Bears' sweep of Dallas College Mountain View in the @NJCAAVolleyball Southwest District semis.#DallasCollegeProud | #BrookhavenBears | #NJCAA | #PostseasonVolleyball pic.twitter.com/hAiTIYH0oD
— Dallas College Athletics (@DallasCollAth) October 29, 2022
That the Bears did, going unbeaten in league play before sweeping both of its postseason matches against familiar foes to start the scramble for flight plans. Following a 1-2 showing at last year's championship, Brookhaven wants to rewrite the script this year. And if that happens, you can bet it would mean something special.
"That's what we walked in on the team to do," Traylor said.
"Yes," Austin chimed in. "We've worked so hard since July."